6502

[Chris Abbott]

Through a mixture of judicious ignoring and scholarly negligence, the unread mail total in my inbox is... 6502! Chip-tastic!

Chris

[Marcel Donné]

What a happy coincidence Now get reading will ya?

[Vosla]

95% is spam anyway. Right, Chris?
Just reply will the accumulated penis length promised in them...

[C64GLeN]

That's super naughty.

Get to Inbox Zero.

[Jan Lund Thomsen]

Get to Inbox Zero.

I got my mailbox down to zero four or five years ago, and only during long vacations has it ever reached more than 20 messages since.

On the other hand, I know people who never EVER use gmails "archive" button, and consequently have thousands of messages populating their inbox. They tell me that they don't mind the clutter, and that those hundreds of unread mails spread across their mailbox "aren't really that important". So I ask why they don't just erase them - mostly this results in either a blank strare or "but I might need those messages later..."

[Chris Abbott]

It's mostly that I haven't got time to go back and filter them. I once answered an email I missed three years later. I think I set some kind of record

Though actually that figure isn't since the beginning of time, it's since the beginning of 2010. And I do delete spam, too, so it's not that.

[C64GLeN]

Threadsy is a brillant web tool for getting to inbox zero, it puts all on your messages in one place (gmail, yahoo, hotmail, pop3 email, facebook, and twitter)

[Analog-X64]

Neat tool Glen, thanks for the tip.

[Jan Lund Thomsen]

It's mostly that I haven't got time to go back and filter them. I once answered an email I missed three years later. I think I set some kind of record

Though actually that figure isn't since the beginning of time, it's since the beginning of 2010. And I do delete spam, too, so it's not that.

Unfortunately I can't fully recall how I got to zero back in the day. But the secret to maintaining an empty inbox has been extensive use of Gmail filters to automatically apply the proper labels to everything that comes in. That way I can read an e-mail and decide if:

* It's worth keeping (optionally add extra labels if its something that doesn't match any filtering rules, press 'archive')
* Not worth keeping (press 'delete', or 'report spam' / 'report phishing' for those few dodgy ones)
* Something that needs a reply (again optionally add labels, then use 'send & archive' rather than plain old 'send').

Also, any outgoing e-mail that requires others to get back to me gets starred and archived - no need to have it clogging up the inbox, while you wait for people to reply. Starred messages then get reviewed weekly to make sure that nothing falls through the cracks.

(Disclaimer: While my personal mailbox is run in this mind-like-water fashion, my situation at work is quite the opposite - so I'm no saint. But I primarily blame that on being able to choose my own tools at home (Gmail + OmniFocus for tasks). At work I'm stuck using Outlook for everything. )

[Analog-X64]

My total number of incoming/outgoing e-mail's at work was just over 1600 e-mails for the month of May.

Its a never ending battle and I have to keep ontop of it. Its such a waste of time, having so many e-mails coming and going.

I haven't kept count how many I get for my personal e-mails at home.

I use filters for both work and home, to sort things into folders.